My DDs are currently doing the Coursera Nutrition, Health and Lifestyle course. https://www.coursera.org/course/lifenutr We are really enjoying it. There seem to always be a few health and wellness focused courses in the line-up at Coursera.

Anyone thinking about high school credit for both parts of this course? We started this past weekend and it is a great course. Planning to work through it as a family on Sunday afternoons. With about 90 minutes worth of lectures, the listening guides and DH interjecting thoughts that spark lively discussion every few minutes I think this is going to be a more well rounded course than I anticipated. What would you call this for a high school student? Music History, Music Appreciation? 1/2 credit? I was thinking about adding Open Yale Listening to Music course for next year as well http://oyc.yale.edu/music/musi-112#overview - another 1/2 credit? I'm not very good figuring out how much credit to give for elective-type classes. This is my DDs third Coursera course (Think Again: How to Reason and Argue and currently taking Nutrition, Health and Lifestyle). They are hooked on this format!

I think I'm going to have my DDs complete this to meet a health requirement https://www.coursera.org/course/nutrition There are a couple other nutrition related courses coming up in the near future.

One more resource - http://www.amazon.com/Dancers-Way-Ballet-Guide-Nutrition/dp/0312342357/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352760378&sr=1-2&keywords=nycb NYCB's The Dancer's Way. Great all around book for health, nutrition, wellbeing of a dancer. I read it a couple years ago and it's on my DDs reading list for their Health/PE/Nutrition class this year.

Physics and the Art of Dance by Kenneth Laws is another resource. http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Art-Dance-Understanding-Movement/dp/0195341015/ref=la_B001IQW9XQ_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352757822&sr=1-1 I haven't seen it but am considering it. He is a professor at Dickinson College and works closely with Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. I have been considering purchasing the Jacqui Haas' Dance Anatomy book as well. I love the illustrations. My DDs did a hip health seminar and a private consultation with Jacqui a few years ago. The book looks great. I also created my own health class for my DDs and many articles are from Dance Informa - http://www.danceinforma.com/magazine/category/dance-advice/dancer-health-dance-advice/ Coursera has a few nutrition courses coming up next year. I think we may do the one in January so I can check it off the list. There are a few that are still TBD on the dates but these are athlete and physical activity related.

We switched from Saxon to TT last spring. I wish I hadn't lingered so long on Saxon. It just wasn't a fit and made math so painful. Unfortunately, we started over with TT so it seems like DDs have been doing Algebra forever. I highly recommend Khan as a supplement or in addition. We don't use it very much now because TT is getting the job done but it was great to find gaps from earlier years of bad public school experiences. I also recently purchased a supplemental book from Danica McKellar (Winnie from the Wonder Years tv show) - http://www.danicamckellar.com/hotx/ This has been so helpful for me to help with math. When something isn't clicking in TT I find the corresponding chapter in this book. I read it and I have DDs read it. It has helped so much with word problems in particular. It's fun and useful.

teachermom2834, would you mind sharing what you switched to? I have Jacobs Geometry on the shelf for consideration for next year. Bought it cheap at a used book sale. Math is not DDs' strongest subject. We need straightforward.

My DDs use the auto-grading version of Algebra 1. They have never used the textbook or the workbook. They know it is on the shelf if they want to reference it but it hasn't been touched so far and they are about halfway through the program. YMMV but we have no use for the textbook.

The current edition of the World History textbook is pricey but I found the previous edition very reasonable on abebooks.com. Not sure how far off it will be from the current edition but it should serve my purpose.

I think you could do a lesson a week and finish two books a year. We only finished one last year (8th grade) but I wasn't pushing for faster. My DDs used WWW in public middle school. At first I was very impressed with the program but there are so many stems with little exercises. The teacher just assigned it as homework and tested the students each week with no other reinforcement. I think they just assigned it because it was "expected" of the honors level students. I found that my girls had very little retention after almost two years of this. I much prefer VFCR. My DDs feel like they are actually learning the roots now because each week is only a few new roots but they learn so many different ways those roots are used - usually 4 to 6 example words. They actually pick up on more roots than what is introduced in each lesson because each use of the main stem is usually coupled with another stem that is referenced.

I'm also planning to use the MIT OCW Kitchen Chemistry for my DDs. I'm thinking about doing it as a once a month "fun school" day with their grandfather. If we work through the intro and the advanced courses over two years, I think I will count this as an elective credit - half each. We also include cooking as part of our geography. We'll be having Swedish Meatballs and Swiss Chocolate Fondue for dinner tomorrow night. The meal will include a powerpoint presentation by each kid on their research country.

9th will be the following: Art / Art History - offered through co-op (will possibly supplement so I can give a full credit) Public Speaking - gavel club through co-op (will give a full credit) Health - will thoroughly document a "home grown" course to satisfy public school requirement if we ever decide to return to ps in the future I will probably craft their transcript by subject area, not by year. So Art/Art History may span across 9th and 10th grade for 1 credit combined or 1 credit per depending on how much emphasis we end up giving each.

We will be in a similar boat next fall, or whenever we finish Algebra 1. We switched to a different Algebra 1 curriculum back in March and completely started over. Luckily things seem to be clicking better with this change. My plan is to do Geometry next to keep DDs on pace with their public school peers (I have to keep open the possibility of returning to ps for reasons other than academics). We will use Khan Academy to keep fresh on Algebra skills. We usually have a light day at home on Mondays due to co-op classes in the afternoon so they will probably do 45 - 60 minutes of Khan instead of their Geometry.

Oh, I like this post. Since our twins were little they have to sing a song to the other if they do something physical. It actually started with writing on each other's papers but the song can apply to most things. The song goes like this, "Keep my hands to myself. Don't touch anybody else (else's paper...). Unless they say it's okay, keep my hands to myself." When an issue comes up we just say "sing the song." It can be quite funny sometimes when they ham it up in public. Also, when they leave something out on the counter, like the milk, they have to put it back in the fridge ten times. My new personal favorite is push ups. Physical punishment tends to distract their minds. It's also a good supplement because their dance teachers tells them they need more upper body strength.

I'm so there with you on this one. My twins will be starting high school in the fall and are definitely more history / language nerds, not math / science geeks. We recently switched from Saxon to Teaching Textbooks. I was reluctant at first but now think it was a great move. They are basically redoing Algebra and finally getting it. At this point, we will stick with TT through Pre-Calc unless something else comes up. I'm still a bit stumped for science. We'll do Earth/Environmental for 9th. I'm leaning towards Oak Meadow or maybe doing some open courseware.

:bigear: Curious as well.

Feeling for you. I have twins 13 year olds in a pre-pro school. Just the injury risk alone worries me constantly (it's springtime so the number of dancers in "boots" has jumped up) and one DD has very pronounced bunions which might someday impact her pointe work. I would second, third and fourth martial arts. Both my girls have their black belts in Tae Kwon Do. We had to quit after first degree because the ballet schedule just doesn't allow it anymore. But they could go back to it at any time. The dance training was a beautiful complement to martial arts. They were so much more flexible and graceful than their classmates. The form combinations are like choreography so she will naturally pick up on things quickly. I used to love the tournaments when my two dancers would come out on top, even in sparring against same age and rank boys. If you can find the right studio, she could even progress to a teaching position. Our studio had several high school students earn their instructor "stripes" and it was a fantastic leadership skill for college apps. These were some of the most articulate and polite high schoolers I have ever met.

I was able to find all three through a combination of ebay and abebooks. Between $10 and $15 each. Whenever I'm looking for used books I first start with an isbn number search on isbn.nu which pulls and compares listings from all the various reseller sites. The student workbooks are harder to come by but we aren't using them. I'm just using the books as a supplement because they are a nice read.

Fun!! Can't wait for my email. I'm GoldPixie27151 About how long has it taken for the second email? Just what I need, one more thing to completely waste time. Oh, well. I'll have to check it out before the kids get accounts.

Also watch this video to explain how the "system" works. This was the ah-ha moment for me. http://www.khanacademy.org/talks-and-interviews/v/khan-academy-exercise-software Here is another one that I haven't watched but might also shed some light on "using" the system as the coach. http://www.khanacademy.org/talks-and-interviews/v/khan-academy-exercises-and-reports-overview

I would also suggest starting from the beginning of the learning map. It's quick to get through the earlier lessons. My girls just watch the videos if they find themselves missing too many in a row. Ten problems correct in a row is a "streak" and you are considered proficient and can move on. Now we just use Khan Academy as a supplement on our co-op day. But when my girls left public school this was their only math for the first 3 months. 60ish minutes a day starting from the beginning. The next suggested lesson(s) will be marked in green. The system will also have lessons marked in orange for review. If you get the first review question right you move on. If you miss it, you get one more chance before you have to get a streak of 10 again. This is great for reinforcement and review. We love Khan Academy.

Sounds like you have figured it out and I'm a day late on the post but thought I would second a few of the suggestions. We too have backtracked on Math and are redoing Algebra 1. DDs seem to be doing much better on comprehension with Teaching Textbooks. Also, I can't recommend Khan Academy enough. If you continue to find small gaps I would suggest starting from scratch on Khan Academy and working through the learning map. My girls did this and we found weaknesses in several very early concepts that surprised me. Khan is nice because if you know the concept and can get 10 right in a row you move on. This could help identify weaknesses and build confidence again.

We went ahead and pulled our girls early last year. We decided around December to definitely start homeschool in 8th grade. I thought I needed more time to research curriculum and get my head around the idea of homeschooling. We said we would stick it out for the rest of 7th but would reevaluate if the social/teacher issues deteriorated further. Well, it went from bad to worse. By midway through the 3rd quarter we decided to go ahead and skip the 4th quarter of public school and start at home early. I don't know whether we had some "lame duck" or "short-timers" syndrome but we just could not see the point of sticking it out. The 4th quarter in our public schools are spent reviewing for end of grade tests in early May and then lots of blow-off time until June. So really, what's the point. I don't regret it at all. We eased into homeschooling, got the kids out of a not so pleasant environment and they had probably more actually schooling in the last month of "school" than their public school peers.

Couldn't agree more!! Khan Academy is amazing. We used it to "repeat" pre-algebra after leaving the public school and are using it temporarily while I wait for TT Algebra 1 to arrive (Saxon was not a fun experience so we are switching it up.) I'm a little leery to use Khan exclusively but we will continue to use Khan as a supplemental math program. I just require it for about an hour on Mondays (our co-op day) to give the girls a break from structure. They can work on whatever lesson Khan recommends next. Anyone use Khan exclusively in Algebra and beyond??

I'm curious about this too. North Carolina has a requirement for Earth or Environment Science for high school graduation. If we stick with homeschool all the way through we obviously don't have to meet this requirement. BUT, I don't want to get caught in a few years with a kid that wants to go back to public school but will be stuck in Earth Science with freshmen. I'm considering two options - more Environmental than Earth, but then again this isn't an area of interest for me so I'm not really clear on the difference except the local public schools track the high performers into AP Enviro senior year while others take Earth freshman year. One choice is Oak Meadow's Environmental Science. It uses the Holt Environmental Science text (2005 edition so you can buy used). I would get the syllabus and teacher's guide from OM. OR I really like this program from learner.org. http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/ It's called The Habitable Planet and looks much more interesting than a textbook. Only drawback is a lack of formal testing. I'll be interested in other opinions.